Super Commander 8

Super Commander

A/N: Those are the essence docs!

Crafter, Commander

After reading Inspired Mass and A Terran Resolution, I decided to make my own Mass Effect fic but starting with a Quarian Female MC.

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Part 4.2

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# # #

(Zana'Taalan nar Sherah)

Outside of the Afterlife club. Zana was asking herself if joining Yuna’Hurrel was a good course of action. The Quarian girl seems almost unhinged. It was almost impossible to anticipate what she would do next.

But Zana could tolerate what the other Quarian did because of the gears Yuna built. Zana loved her new suit and weapons, and the new advances that she noticed her new boss adding to the current tech around them. Even her new apartment was built for Quarian needs, it was like being back on the fleet, where she could unsuit in a sterile environment without risk.

The system that allowed this was similar to what you'd find in a high-end laboratory focusing on virology. Zana still found it strange that Yuna was even allowed to go on a pilgrimage because she could build all of this. She had asked Zithor, but he said that it wasn’t his story to tell, and Zana could understand that.

After Yuna took over the Gozu District, she was summoned to the Afterlife club by Omega’s boss. Zana was afraid because Aria T’Loak had a certain reputation; she was without remorse and got rid of people who threatened her rule.

Being this close to the action was risky, but Zana would do her job despite her misgivings. 

She kept her eyes on a bunch of people who were taking positions before the entrance of the club; they even placed a sniper on the roof of a business facing the club. Zana warned Yuna on the comm, and the problem was acknowledged. 

“Maybe they aren't here for Yuna and for someone else…?” Zana said on the comm. 

“Nah, it smells too fishy. She came to the club today, and then there was suspicious mercs in the club that day? It's obviously an ambush, girl.” Truurax replied to Zana's preconceived notions.

“Hey there, I'm done; Aria is onboard with the economic plan.” Yuna commented with a chirpy tone.

Zana was surprised by Yuna's declaration; Zithor replied with a laugh, “I didn't doubt you would fail for one second, Yuna. Anyway, it's time to go home.”

Zana pushed a sigh of relief; this situation was finally done with. 

“I don't think so, Zithor. At least not yet; get ready for some action.” Yuna dashed her hope.

The Quarian engineer frowned. What is going to happen now? “Boss… what’s going to happen?” Zana interrupted her new employer.

Yuna replied cryptically, “I’m about to get jumped by a bunch of Salarian shills.”

Zana raised an eyebrow, she didn't recognize the slang. “I don’t recognize that slang. What do you mean by ‘shills’?”

Sigh. “I mean that mercenaries hired by the local STG operation are after me.”

Her hands tightened on her sniper rifle. “You don't seem to be joking…”

Yuna laughed. “Nah, I'm not. Those are the people who keep kidnapping the best and brightest Quarians and lock them up in a black site in Asari space to put together all the new tech they’re using.”

Zana closed her eyes in frustration. So this was the catch? Yuna’Hurrel offered her so many perks when she hired her, and Zana had no idea that the girl was thrown into some kind of conspiracy.

But the new suit and nice new apartment made her stay, and she didn't like the STG anyway, so shooting some of those assholes isn't too much for her. Zana connected her weapons scope with her helmet's HUD and started observing the area before the Afterlife club. 

Until she saw a small hover truck arrive and a bunch of people disgorged from the container behind it and then a small mecha descended. Zana's blood froze as she reported, “Boss, they're moving in with some serious ordnance there.”

Yuna said, “Lemme see what we have… huh fuck me they came loaded for bears. Ready for combat! Zithor, Truurax, permission to use your power armors. No mercy.”

# # #

(STG Agent)

Ship Hangar 098
STG stealth ship - Reloren

Captain Tuban Voss hopes that he has arrayed enough forces to take down Yuna’Hurrel. At least he hoped that it would be enough.

He had seen what she was capable of doing, taking her down swiftly and mercilessly while also denying any form of support from her workshop, was the best way to capture her. This is why a part of the mercenaries will attack her shop, while the second team will attack Yuna'Hurrel once she exits Aria T’Loak's club. 

Fortunately for Tuban, she hasn't come with any of her associates, or has she? He was in the CIC of the stealth ship when he gave the order to commence the operation. Tuban decided not to risk any of his agents and hired the just-formed Blue Suns private security organization to do his bidding.

Tuban spoke to the leader on the comm device. “Commence operation, Mister Santiago.”

“Wilco.” The voice of the Blue Suns’ leader replied.

On the screen, Tuban watched as the mercenaries were unpacking the heavy gear for this operation; more notably, the mechs he had asked them to bring. Contrary to other Quarians, Yuna’Hurrel wasn’t afraid to use robots or VI, and she has a fleet of them back at her workshop. It was noted that there was a particularly well-armed one of her own design that repelled a push from a gang, thinking they could get her when she showed her willingness to kill and humiliate anyone going against her posthumously by starring in her advertisement campaign.

“All eight YMIR Mechs deployed.” Santiago reported.

The Battle YMIR Mech, or Model 34-A, commonly referred to simply as a Heavy Mech, is a massive killing machine designed for anti-infantry purposes. It was just released this year by Hahne-Kedar, a major supplier to the Systems Alliance military, which somehow came up with a better mech than the Asari and Turian military contractors. The YMIR  boasted heavy armor and layered kinetic shielding, as well as twin automatic mass accelerator cannons concealed in the right arm and a rocket launcher in the left. 

Tuban watched as the mercenaries placed the mechs in a radial arc around the exit of the club. There was even a Krogan standing smackdab next to the central mech.

“Units are in place, waiting for the target to exit the club.”

All the pieces are in place, now Tuban just needs for his foe to make a move. He didn’t have to wait for long as the club’s entrance opened, and out of it a purple and pink-suited Quarian exited it with a nonchalant gait.

She stopped and looked at the force arrayed against her and tilted her head. “Wow, I see that ya’ll came prepared. Before we get started, does anyone want to get out?”

Of course, she knows that we’re here. Her reaction to their ambush set off alarm bells in Tuban and for all the agents onboard the Reloren watching on their monitors.

Was Tuban too hasty in setting up this plan to get her? He didn’t know the type of tech Yuna’Hurrel might have come with for intelligence gathering. The STG agent in charge was getting worried, but he was still confident that they could take that Quarian back to the black site where they’d stashed all the other bright minds like hers.

“Yuna'Hurrel, disarm and surrender yourself!” The Leader of the Blue Suns shouted, his rifle trained on Yuna’Hurrel.

She laughed, and when she stopped, the Quarian said, “I see. Counter Offer, leave, and there won’t be an obituary with your names written on it tomorrow.”

Tuban began sweating and blurted out on the comm, “Take her down, she’s bluffing.”

“Attack! Tranquiliser rounds only!” Santiago ordered his men.

Yuna’Hurrel body simply vanished with a blurring effect, confusing the mercenaries and suddenly their communication was being hacked into, showing their target hooded helmet on screen. “You should have brought more men, little frogs.”

The Quarian disappeared and the screen came back on the scene outside of the Afterlife Club, the entrance was shimmering with a kinetic barrier while a Krogan in heavy armor and holding a black shotgun was standing where Yuna’Hurrel had been standing. The Quarian pumped the shotgun and fired on the nearest mercenaries.

Blam! Their kinetic shields were pierced as if it was paper, and two Batarians found themselves on the ground, bleeding out and their lifesigns going flat. Coming from the air, someone in flying armor descended the district’s tall ceiling and began spraying the rest of the mercenaries with weapon fire. 

Brrrrrrrrrrrrttttttt! The mercenaries took cover behind the mechs, their kinetic shielding barely holding on.

It was right at that moment that the Quarian reappeared and started killing Santiago’s men, shooting with the strange Smart Pistol she’d been seen using when she arrived on Omega. Yuna’Hurrel started executing the Blue Suns, and the Krogan charged one of the mechs and made it fall on the ground, fired twice in the mech’s core, and… BTOOOOOM!! It exploded.

Things were getting too chaotic. Tuban hadn’t expected this Quarian to build cloaking devices and use them to hide her bodyguards. And he should have expected the flying power armor, he’d seen it in the ads she was using for her shop; Tuban had been too used to targets that were lightly armed, and this was biting him in the ass right now.

“Permission to use live ammunition, sir?! We’re losing men!” Santiago begged as another Mech exploded as Yuna’Hurrel threw some kind of grenade at it.

The spy drones monitoring the situation were also being shot down, cutting the visibility of the STG agents. One by one, the holo-screens in the CIC were getting dark while the screams and the explosion rang in the air.

Tuban replied, “Granted, at least try to bring her alive.”

Santiago pushed a relieved sigh. “Thank you, sir! Guys, switch to live ammo!”

Yuna’Hurrel was more trouble than he had expected. He estimated that his error had been to believe that he could take her with his current resources. He should have requested for more gear and personnel. 

“Finally, we're getting decimated here!” A Batarian replied on the channel.

But it seemed that it was too late, some kind of a round metallic device rolled right in the middle of the assembled Blue Suns mercenaries. 

BOOOMMM!!!

The screens showing the footage from the bodycam and drones went completely white. Tuban stood up, terrified, as he recognized the effect of a nuclear device when he saw one.

“That Quarian is crazy!” Tuban found himself shouting.

This was a space station and using such weapons was prohibited. Anything that threatened the integrity of the habitat should be banned, so how did this Quarian get fissile material onboard?! Maybe he underestimated the length this Quarian was willing to go to keep her freedom?

One of his subordinates came next to him and asked, “Sir, do we abort the operation?”

Tuban got to think and he found himself unwilling to let go. “Not yet, we can still salvage this!” 

It was at this moment that he saw one of the screens show something; it was the feed of one of the Mechs that still livestreamed. They heard the voice of their target as she looked at the downed mechs. 

“Another one bites the dust~.” Yuna’Hurrel started singing as she used her omni-tool to get a scan of the machine.

She started knocking on it. Clang! Clang! “Eh, shoddy design, it's not even hardened against powerful EMP. Who the hell would buy YMIR Mechs?”

Tuban's face darkened; that female Quarian had a way with words that was quite infuriating, so much so that the Salarian Agent wanted to shoot her in the face. The Operation can be salvaged if they were able to take the target’s shop and acquire several examples of her technology; if they could do that and bring them to the HQ on Sur'Kesh for analysis, Tuban could get a more sizable force to fight and capture Yuna’Hurrel. What he saw her do showed how capital the mission to acquire her technology was for the Citadel Races.

But unfortunately for Tuban, fate didn’t seem to be on his side. One of his subordinates screeched, “Sir, we have a situation!”

Tuban almost ran toward the bank of screens on the other side of the table. He heard an explosion and screams again. “Report, Lieutenant Zenis!”

The Lieutenant didn’t have to say anything; he showed the screen where one of the Blue Suns shouted, “Sir! The workshop’s defenses are too powerful! We’re dying here!”

The bodicam footage showed turrets on the shop’s roof disgorging beams of energy into mercenaries that were trapped inside forcefield cages. The golden beam passed through the forcefield and simply struck the Batarian wearing heavy armor; the beam didn’t just pierce him, as it passed through him, the Batarian simply… disappeared as he screamed.

Lieutenant Zenis stood up from his seat and backed away as he shouted, “Spirits! Did he just get disintegrated?!”

This happened to every mercenary, they simply disintegrated or were captured and stripped of their weapons by some kind of holographic guards. The bodycams and drones were taken down, the screens went completely black. Tuban immediately addressed his subordinate and said, “The operation is a failure on both fronts. I will take full responsibility. Prepare the ship for retreat to point E7.”

Brrrr! Grrrrbblllll! The ship shook and the lighting shifted from normal to red. “What?!”

A STG corporal stood and screamed, “Sir, we lost the engines! We’re on auxiliary power as well!”

“We’re under attack!” 

When he said that all the holo-screens gathered in the middle of the holo-table  and the hooded helmet of Yuna’Hurrel appeared. “Where do you think you’re going, little food snackies?”

# # #

(Zitor'Widor nar Varah)

Five minutes ago…

Zithor still couldn’t get used to the fact that he was working with Artificial Intelligence; he remembered the arguments his boss and friend made about AI being the natural evolution of automation, and Yuna had also shown him exactly why creating Artificial Intelligence based on Prothean computer code was a bad idea. They were all flawed from birth, which is why she used her own created code with a completely different OS and hardware, and a Quantum chip core made of Photronics.

He watched her treat the AI like a child on a closed system as they grew in knowledge, like all intelligent beings should be educated in their infancy. The results speak for themselves. Suni, who is Zithor’s AI companion, was loyal, helpful, and a bit sassy because she modeled herself after Yuna’Hurrel.

Suni helped Zithor pilot his power armor that Yuna named the Warmachine. The Warmachine power armor should be considered a mobile weapon platform by today’s conventions, but Yuna told him that power armor was the future of infantry combat. Zithor has a knack for piloting them, he discovered; it was like playing in a video game, but you used your neuro-link to control the armor. He was currently inside the workshop that was being assaulted by an STG outfit, which had chosen Omega as a base.

It still couldn’t handle Yuna’s smug smile when she was proved right; the STG had really come for her, like she said. Did their best and brightest really get sent off to a black site to allow the Citadel Council to keep their technological edge over everybody? If yes, what was he going to do about it? Knowing Yuna, she was going to raid any black site that the government had.

Zithor directed his power armor remotely toward the hangar bay where the enemy ship was moored. The AI had tracked the signal to bay 098 and visually confirmed a spaceship of Salarian make registered to a local mercenary outfit. The ship was a Salarian Light Frigate of about 163 meters in length and painted a dark blue with some kind of paint that bounced off common sensor waves.

[Energy signature detected, ship has gone active.] Zithor’s AI reported urgently.

Zithor's eyes widened in alarm. “Oh no, you don’t get to run away! Suni, Unlock Kinetic cutter, shoulder-mounted micro-missile launcher, and particle turret.”

The general artificial intelligence complied right away. [Jericho System online. Zithor, please proceed with caution, do not damage the station’s walls.]

The Jericho system was a micro-missile launcher with a variable payload that, upon reaching a preset distance, the missile’s casing was blown off, launching sixteen separate, self-seeking micro MIRVs with their own tracking and guidance systems. The explosion could vary from enough to blow off a hover car or destroy a ship.

Zithor quickly thought that having a ship would be good for their business, so he refrained from making it rain with the micro-missile launcher. He chose a more elegant approach as he said, “Understood. Let’s take out the ship’s engines by cutting the fuel line with the Kinetic cutter.”

The Cutting Beam of the kinetic cutter offers a 360-degree firing arc, ensuring they can be used in any situation. Unlike normal beam weapons created by Yuna, this weapon deals Kinetic damage. Thanks to the high-powered sensor suit onboard his armor, Zithor could see the structure and layout of the ship. He found the fuel lines connected to the main thrusters behind the ship and fired the kinetic cutter, severing them completely; however, he decided to go beyond and did the same for the Eezo power core at the center of the ship.

The ship shook and went directly into auxiliary power. This was actually good in Zithor’s books; but as usual something had to go ancestor damned wrong. 

[Zithor, they activated the self-destruction of their vessel.]

The Quarian sighed. “I’m not surprised, they are spies and don’t want to reveal that an STG cell was in Omega. That Asari named Aria, her reach and cruelty are famous.”

Zithor willed the communication app to come forward on his HUD and contacted Yuna, who was moving to the hangar herself. “The ship’s self-destruction was activated. Yuna, can you do something?”

The answer was short. “I’m on it.”

# # #

(Random Salarian Agent)

Sidall knew that he might die young when he chose this job, but not this soon! This operation should have been a milk-run, to get the damned suit rat from Omega and transfer her to another ship which was going to the site Alpha 02, where they stashed the Citadel’s thinktank. Now he found himself before one of the two points of access in the ship, one of the airlocks, waiting for the target to arrive, and from what he’d been told, even a contingent of mercs armed with mechs couldn’t take down the suit rat.

There was something fishy about that Quarian; she was too well armed, she also started her own gang at record speed, and took two districts right from the other gangs that she eliminated without trouble. The agents versed in finance and marketing tried to track down where she got the materials for her invention and engineer a situation where Yuna’Hurrel would need to present herself out of her fortified workshop, but to no avail.

Staring at the airlock was nerve-wracking. Sidall had started to sweat considerably. The five other colleagues at his side were in similar states; they knew that they needed to guard the airlock until the ship's auto-destruction ran its course.

“You MIB froggies are looking in the wrong direction.” A voice said behind them.

Sidall was the first to turn and see a Quarian in a pink and purple suit looking at them; she had a pistol in each hand. They were more like handcannon than pistols though…

The other agents finally turned to look behind them as well.

“Who?!”

“It's the target, shoot her! Shoot!”

They started panicking and raised their weapons to shoot at the Quarian. And they did just that, shot at the Quarian who smiled at them as if she was unconcerned by their hostile actions. However, she stood before them seemingly unaffected by weapon fire.

“WHY ISN'T SHE DYING?”

“Is this a holographic decoy?!”

The Salarian couldn’t believe what he was seeing; he didn’t even believe Yuna’Hurrel when she told them, “Nah. Phase field emitter.”

Sidall denied immediately, “Impossible! Such a device would need a power source bigger than this ship.”

The Quarian giggled. “Meh. All I hear is a skill issue.”

What happened next put credence in her words as each golden beam shot from her pistols. Zap! Zap! Zap! Zap!

His colleagues were disintegrated, only leaving Sidall to confront the Quarian female. He was so frightened by what happened under his eyes that he let go of his rifle; the target walked up to him, and he immediately raised his hands in surrender. “Please. Don’t kill me.”

The Quarian stepped back from him and pointed at the corridor with her pistol. “Sure. Hey, why don’t you give me a tour of the place? I kind of want to have some words with your boss.”

Sidall sighed. He couldn’t believe that he would be used as a glorified GPS map before his final moment.

# # #

(Yuna'Hurrel nar Laekor)

Salarians were sore losers. Even more so when things didn't go their way. My guide tried to lure me into the waiting arms of a squad of Salarian soldiers; I used him as a shield. Another proof that you can’t trust a Salarian if he isn’t Mordyn Solus. This further vindicated my way of thinking as I used my neural interface to hack into the ship’s mainframe and take care of the auto-destruction protocols currently threatening my new ship.

Only two minutes left, my AI was doing a big part of the legwork. Raela, my onboard AI, basically my own JARVIS, was also preserving as much of the data as she could as the froggies were trying to stop me from pillaging their computers. Too bad they were constrained by the limits of meat-space; a problem that I’ve fixed since day one.

I killed any Salarians I saw on the way while I consulted the deck plans of this ship. The corridors were white and grey; it was hard to navigate the place. I made a note about redecorating the place later.

Step, step, step. Metallic sounds rang as I walked on the strange attempt the Salarian made at developing a grav-plate. What happens if they’re forced into re-entry? The heat might become a danger for anyone not in a spacesuit. Then again, this was a military and intelligence vessel that she was on.

I finally reached the bridge, which was cut out from the ship’s computers somehow. Hmm? A defense mechanism? I noticed how the entire module was covered in some sort of kinetic barrier. With a sigh, I raised one of my pistols and put all the power in the battery to use the particle beam like a plasma torch.

[Auto-Destruction in 10 minutes.]

I was grateful for the fact that I had ample time to take down the door to the bridge of this ship. I started from the ground and worked my way up to make an opening in the door to her size. It was foolhardy to try to pass through the kinetic field with my phase field emitter; the experiment I tried with those two fields interacting had shown how explosive the reaction between the two was. Something I will need to help solve, as phase field technology is too volatile at the moment.

Finally, I finished cutting through the surprisingly thick door, and my pistol’s battery was depleted. I kicked the part I cut, and it fell inward.

[Auto-Destruction in 2minutes.]

When I entered inside, I was shot at, but my AI adapted my forcefield to tank the shot. It was another traitorous move from a Salarian and wasn’t surprising, as their high pragmatism often made them unable to respect conventions such as awesome entrances.

“Yuna’Hurrrel nar Laekor, I wish I could say that it is nice to meet you.” The Captain, the guy who had sent everyone after me to die, was alone on the bridge, standing next to the command chair.

I moved toward him. “Likewise. I knew that you froggies would come after me; your shenanigans are cutting into my tinkering time.”

The Salarian sassed me with, “Ah, I’m most sorry for being such a troubling distraction.”

My scent filter picked out a strange smell; there was sweat and… was this urine? "Is that fear I smell on you? Oh, no it's just your bladder letting go, as you feel that your time in this mortal coil is coming to an end.”

“Indeed, but at least I won’t die by your hands, and I will be taking you with me.”

I let him think that he was in control and that I was wasting time instead of taking care of the auto-destruction of the ship that loomed over me. I giggled as I asked, “Really?”

There was a victorious smile on his face as the final countdown appeared on a red colored holo-screen. [Auto-Destruction in 5, 4, 3… BzZzzzt.]

The Salarian’s face was frozen and his victorious rictus turned into a gaping mouth as he heard, [Auto-Destruction protocols interrupted.]

In a defeated tone, the salarian said, “I should have anticipated that as well.”

“You should have.” I raised my remaining particle pistol at him with the disintegration setting.

Zap! He raised his hands in the air and screamed, “Aaahhhh!!!!” As he started to disappear in golden motes of light.

I couldn’t help but say, “Some motherfuckers are still trying to ice-kate uphill.”

With a giggle, I couldn’t stay serious after that quote. “I always wanted to say that!”

Now that I’m on the bridge, it’s time to look for any remaining pests. “Now it’s time to clean my new ship of its froggie infestation.”

My omni-tool connected with the central computer, and I started typing on the holographic keyboard. Then I contacted Truurax, Zana, and Zithor to come here and help me secure everything… Things were promising to be even more funkier now that I have my own ship.